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Image sliders & site speed

We are having a new website designed using WordPress and the Genesis framework. We wanted to include header image sliders on a number of internal site pages, but our designer says that sliders on more than just the home page will slow down the site significantly. How much could they slow down the site, and what can be done to minimize their effect on site speed?

2 Responses

A slider will only impact the page it is on. Adding a slider to the page will slow down that page (as does adding anything), but there is no reason that one of a sub-page would have more impact on speed than one on a home page.

However listen to what the designer is really saying. It might be that they are using load time as a polite way of saying "back off with the sliders". Slider do create an overhead both in terms of load time and in terms of drawing the eye and therefore detracting from other content on the page. They are powerful when used correctly, but can impact on overall effectiveness of the site when used badly.

I'd actually start off asking "If load time wasn't an issue would you use a slider on that page" and see what they say. Presumably you hired them because you think they're good, so see what they say.

If they say yes then ask how much overhead it would add if the images are well optimised, you choose a lightweight slider script and minify everything (because the answer is usually "not much").

Yes, there is some truth in what your designer says, adding any additional images and media to a page will slow the load time, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

My advice to you would be this, if adding a slider to an internal page enhances the user experience (UX) then add it to the page, a well optimised image slider will not impact the load time of a page noticeably to a user.

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